Matthew Tully: The NRA and the Indiana legislature, a match made in harebrained heaven

Apr. 4, 2013

Marksmanship is taught to a group in Boone County in 2001. / Star 2001 file photo

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Indiana state lawmakers arrived for their 2013 legislative session in early January, less than a month after a tragic school shooting in Connecticut heightened the national debate over guns and violence.

Twenty children gunned down in their classroom. Children ages 6 and 7. Children who perished in a small town that sits 800 miles away from us but whose deaths hit many so deeply that it felt like they had occurred next door.

What a shame. A serious debate would have been as wonderful and welcome as it would have been unlikely. Wouldn’t it have been nice to see Indiana prove that it can lead on big national discussions? We hear a lot about “Hoosier common sense,” after all. State lawmakers could have told everyone on the fringe to calm down while it led a thoughtful discussion.

What have I been drinking?

Instead of all that, we’ve gotten three months of silliness and small ball at the Statehouse. Lawmakers have spent more time on legislation to protect rogue hog factories from being exposed than they have on real school-safety initiatives. They’ve debated cursive-writing mandates and tax breaks for banks and casinos. They’ve spent many nights at Mo’s and St. Elmo Steak House with lobbyists. But they’ve negligently avoided a serious debate over school safety — or safety in general.

That’s likely because of the tight grip that groups such as the National Rifle Association have on the Statehouse, of course. It’s hard to debate gun violence when any discussion leads to furious outcries from those who insist there is no room for debate. You might remember, for instance, when former Indianapolis Public Safety Director Frank Straub was almost run out of town after just a month on the job for committing the sin of saying the city needed to address the plague of illegally possessed guns on its streets.

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But after three months of inaction on the issue of school safety, the Indiana legislature has now come up with its idea of a solution. Stuffed into a bill this week is a $10 million mandate that every public school in Indiana have an armed employee charged with taking out people like Newtown madman Adam Lanza. Yes, the same legislature that has balked at spending $7 million a year on an early learning program is willing to bankroll a stimulus plan for the gun industry.

It’s not a solution. It’s a gimmick, a ploy, a valentine to the NRA, and a reminder of how sadly ineffective and idea-deficient so many of our leaders can be. Or, who knows, perhaps it’s a sincere effort by those who truly think it would work. Whatever it is, as the 2013 legislative session approaches its merciful end, the idea has a decent chance of becoming law. If it does, Indiana will claim the unfortunate designation of being the first state in the union to require guns in schools.

Fortunately, Gov. Mike Pence has raised concerns about the bill, arguing rightly that such decisions should be made by local schools, local districts and local residents. As someone who has spent hundreds of hours in hard-hit schools with armed police officers, I’m not arguing against the need for that in some cases. But those are career police officers, not teachers who have gone through a short training program. And if lawmakers really think guns in schools is the answer, they should be willing to finance what would be a much costlier plan to put police officers in schools.

It almost seems silly to try to knock down the logic behind the idea that emerged this week, as there are so many holes in it. For starters, do lawmakers really believe that one educator with a handgun and 50 other things to do will be able to stop a Lanza-like gunman who arrives on the scene with an arsenal you might see on a soldier in Afghanistan? Are we really placing our hopes on the idea that a school employee will be in exactly the right place at exactly the right time, and will be able to react with the skill of a cool marksman in what would undoubtedly be the most harrowing and horrifying minute of his or her life?

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What about the thousands of children every day who attend private school? Or day care? And since the core issue is safety and not just schools, what about the many other places where children congregate every day? By the way, one teacher wisely noted in Thursday’s Star that Columbine High School employed an armed guard at the time of its 1999 tragedy.

This hasn’t been a debate worthy of Indiana’s children. I know that many parents support the idea of arming school employees. As a parent, I definitely understand the desperate need to feel that your child is as safe as possible when they’re out of your hands. That’s why we should have had, and still should have, a more thoughtful conversation.

In a more serious Statehouse, gutsy lawmakers would have talked about background checks and high-capacity magazines, and they would have put their muscle behind the lagging efforts to rid city streets of illegally possessed guns. They would have talked about the impact of music, games and films that glorify violence. They would let police and other experts decide what steps would help reduce the problem of gun violence. They would have told the unhinged NRA to get lost, rather than embracing its wackiest ideas. They would have looked at funding for mental illness treatment and crime-prevention programs. They would have convened a meeting of educators to get their thoughts on school safety.

In the end, unfortunately, we got exactly what we’ve come to expect from the legislature: a simplistic and harebrained idea and a solution that really isn’t one.